The Linear B writing system of the Mycenaean Greeks was a syllabic script derived from the Minoan Linear A, used primarily for administrative purposes in the palace centers.

It was complex, requiring the memorization of dozens of syllabic signs plus hundreds of logographic signs, and it appears to have been used exclusively by professional scribes within the palace administration.

When the palaces were destroyed, the scribes and their specialized knowledge disappeared with them.

The Ugaritic cuneiform alphabet — a simplified form of cuneiform writing that used a true alphabetic system rather than the syllabic or logographic systems of Akkadian cuneiform — was lost with the destruction of Ugarit.

What emerged in the centuries after the collapse was the Phoenician alphabet — a true consonantal alphabet of approximately 22 signs that could be learned by anyone, not just professional scribes.